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Sen Murphy warns ‘people are going to die’ as Congress punts on expiring Obamacare subsidies
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A bipartisan Obamacare fix remains out of reach in the Senate, for now, and lawmakers can’t agree on who is at fault.
While many agree that the forthcoming healthcare cliff will cause financial pain, the partisan divide quickly devolved into pointing the finger across the aisle at who owns the looming healthcare premium spikes that Americans who use the healthcare exchange will face.
Part of the finger-pointing has yielded another surprising agreement: Lawmakers don’t see the fast-approaching expiration of the Biden-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies as Congress failing to act in time.
«Obviously, it’s not a failure of Congress to act,» Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. «It’s a failure of Republicans to act. Democrats are united and wanting to expand subsidies. Republicans want premium increases to go up.»
Partisan rancor over Obamacare has seeped into how lawmakers view the effect that expiring subsidies will have on their constituents. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., argued that it was a «life or death» situation, while Republicans contended that Democrats set up the very cliff they maligned. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
DEMOCRATS’ LAST-MINUTE MOVE TO BLOCK GOP FUNDING PLAN SENDS LAWMAKERS HOME EARLY
Senate Republicans and Democrats both tried, and failed, to advance their own partisan plans to replace or extend the subsidies earlier this month. And since then, no action has been taken to deal with the fast-approaching issue, guaranteeing that the subsidies will lapse at the end of the year.
A report published last month by Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit healthcare think tank, found that Americans who use the credits will see an average increase of 114% in their premium costs.
The increase can vary depending on how high above the poverty level a person is. The original premium subsidies set a cap at 400% above the poverty level, while the enhanced subsidies, which were passed during the COVID-19 pandemic, torched the cap.
For example, a person 60 years or older making 401% of the poverty level, or about $62,000 per year, would on average see their premium prices double. That number can skyrocket depending on the state. Wyoming clocks in at the highest spike at 421%.
SENATE MULLS NEXT STEPS AFTER DUELING OBAMACARE FIXES GO UP IN FLAMES
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., doesn’t want to blow up Obamacare or get rid of Obamacare subsidies, but he does want to provide Americans with more options for healthcare. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
In Murphy’s home state of Connecticut, premiums under the same parameters would hike in price by 316%.
«When these do lapse, people are going to die,» Murphy said. «I mean, I was talking to a couple a few months ago who have two parents, both with chronic, potentially life-threatening illnesses, and they will only be able to afford insurance for one of them. So they’re talking about which parent is going to survive to raise their three kids. The stakes are life and death.»
Both sides hold opposing views on the solution. Senate Republicans argue that the credits effectively subsidize insurance companies, not patients, by funneling money directly to them, and that the program is rife with fraud.
Senate Democrats want to extend the subsidies as they are, and are willing to negotiate fixes down the line. But for the GOP, they want to see some immediate reforms, like income caps, anti-fraud measures and more stringent anti-abortion language tied to the subsidies.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who produced his own healthcare plan that would convert subsidies into health savings accounts (HSAs), argued that congressional Democrats «set this up to expire.»
SENATE REPUBLICANS LAND ON OBAMACARE FIX, TEE UP DUELING VOTE WITH DEMS
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., panned Senate Democrats’ Obamacare subsidy proposal as «obviously designed to fail.» (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
But he doesn’t share the view that the subsidies’ expected expiration is a life-or-death situation.
«I’m not taxing somebody who makes 20 bucks an hour to pay for healthcare for somebody who makes half a million dollars a year, that’s what they did,» he told Fox News Digital. «All they did was mask the increase in healthcare costs. That’s all they did with it.»
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., similarly scoffed at the notion, and told Fox News Digital, «The Democrat plan to extend COVID-era Obamacare subsidies might help less than half a percent of the American population.»
«The Republican plan brings down healthcare costs for 100% of Americans,» he said. «More competition, expands health savings accounts. That needs to be the focus.»
Democrats are also not hiding their disdain for the partisan divide between their approaches to healthcare.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told Fox News Digital that the idea that this «is a congressional failure and not a Republican policy is preposterous.»
«They’ve hated the Affordable Care Act since its inception and tried to repeal it at every possible opportunity,» he said, referring to Obamacare. «The president hates ACA, speaker hates ACA, majority leader hates ACA, rank-and-file hate ACA. And so this is not some failure of bipartisanship.»
While the partisan rancor runs deep on the matter of Obamacare, there are Republicans and Democrats working together to build a new plan. Still, it wouldn’t deal with the rapidly approaching Dec. 31 deadline to extend the subsidies.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., predicted that the Senate would have a long road to travel before a bipartisan plan came together in the new year, but he didn’t rule it out.
«It’s the Christmas season. It would take a Christmas miracle to execute on actually getting something done there,» he said. «But, you know, I think there’s a potential path, but it’ll be heavy lift.»
politics,senate,health care healthy living,republicans,democrats senate
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House Republicans are lurching forward with a second budget reconciliation package, ending months of speculation about whether the chamber would attempt to marshal a second GOP-only megabill through Congress before November’s midterm elections.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said Wednesday he wants the measure to pay for President Donald Trump’s Iran campaign and enact anti-fraud provisions that offset the cost of the anticipated defense infusion’s large price tag.
«It’s an opportunity to solve two problems and address two challenges and advance two great causes: fund the military, provide a strong defense, win the war, achieve the objectives and do it in a way that doesn’t put our kids further in the hole,» Arrington told reporters.
«We’re all but ready to mark up a budget resolution,» Arrington continued, adding his panel is still continuing to hash out the details of the package.
Representative Jodey Arrington, R-Texas and the chairman of the House Budget Committee, center, speaks during a House Budget Committee meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., May 18, 2025. (Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
HOUSE CONSERVATIVES ERUPT OVER SENATE GOP, WHITE HOUSE DEAL AMID SAVE ACT FIGHT
The Trump administration has floated a $200 billion request to help pay for the war in Iran but has yet to deliver a formal request. Given Democrats’ expected opposition to a defense supplemental, some House Republicans have said a second reconciliation package is the only viable vehicle to advance the measure and other Trump priorities through Congress.
«Democrats have obstructed everything,» Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. «So, we believe, unfortunately, that reconciliation is the only mechanism to move the rest of the President’s agenda.»
Republicans have zeroed in on fraud in social services for months and view the enactment of fraud-related spending cuts as a way to offset the cost of the package.
The budget reconciliation process would allow Republicans to circumvent the Senate’s 60-vote requirement and pass a spending measure with a simple majority.
Arrington said he would be working closely with Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who also announced Wednesday that his panel would begin drafting reconciliation instructions. The South Carolina Republican floated funding increases for the military and law enforcement in addition to voter integrity measures as possible items in a second reconciliation bill.
«Let’s put it this way: The reconciliation train is leaving the station,» Graham posted on X after the two lawmakers met to discuss a second megabill Wednesday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in the Dirksen Senate Office Building July 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
GOP MUST RACE FOR NEW ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ TO SLASH COSTS BEFORE MIDTERMS, TOP HOUSE REPUBLICANS WARN
Though Republicans are likely to broadly support defense supplemental funding and fraud-prevention measures, a second megabill could still face major hurdles.
Republicans narrowly passed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act in June 2025 after months of intraparty disagreement. Under House Republicans’ razor-thin majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can afford to spare just one GOP defection in a party-line vote.
However, Arrington argued that the war in Iran would be a unifying force to get the bill done.
«I think funding our military in a time of war, if there’s no sense of urgency and accountability from members of Congress to support our commander in chief, I can’t think of one,» Arrington said. «I do think the big push is going to be supporting our sons and daughters in uniform and making sure they have what they need to be successful.»
Arrington did not shut the door on including parts of the SAVE America Act in a GOP-only megabill. However, its sweeping provisions, requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and voter ID requirements, could fail to meet reconciliation’s stringent budget requirements.
The Trump-backed election bill has stalled in the Senate due to widespread Democratic opposition, though the upper chamber is continuing to debate the measure.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters outside his office on the 28th day of the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington Oct. 28, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
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Johnson, who has long pushed for a second budget bill, said Wednesday he was encouraged by Graham moving forward with reconciliation.
«I’m glad to know the Senate is interested in reconciliation 2.0,» the speaker said. «I have been a broken record. We need to do that. It’s an important legislative tool.»
budget house of representatives politics, lindsey graham, republicans, mike johnson, war with iran
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Cumbre de aliados estratégicos de Putin en Pyongyang: Kim Jong Un recibió a Lukashenko para reforzar vínculos
El presidente de Bielorrusia, Alexander Lukashenko, llegó a Pyongyang en su primera visita oficial a Corea del Norte, donde fue recibido por el líder norcoreano Kim Jong Un. Lo anunció este jueves la agencia estatal KCNA.
El líder bielorruso y su par norcoreano son considerados dos de los principales socios y aliados del presidente ruso Vladimir Putin.
La ceremonia de bienvenida se celebró este miércoles en la Plaza Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Un recibió a Lukashenko en el plaza Kim Il Sung de Pyongyang. (Foto: EFE)
El gobernante norcoreano recibió “con agrado” y dio una “cálida” bienvenida al líder bielorruso, según el reporte oficial.
Ambos países están sometidos a sanciones de potencias occidentales, mantienen estrechos vínculos con Rusia y son acusados de violaciones a los derechos humanos.
A qué fue el líder bielorruso a Corea del Norte
Lukashenko inició su primera visita a Corea del Norte para mantener conversaciones que consolidarán los lazos entre dos estrechos aliados de Putin. Kim Jong Un dio la bienvenida al gobernante bielorruso Alexander Lukashenko frente a una multitud en Pyongyang. (Foto: KCNA vía Reuters).
Kim proporcionó a Moscú millones de cartuchos de munición para su guerra en Ucrania y envió tropas para ayudar a Rusia a expulsar a las fuerzas ucranianas que invadieron su región occidental de Kursk en agosto de 2024.
Leé también: Guerra en Medio Oriente: exigencias “inaceptables” y amenazas alejan un acuerdo de paz entre Irán y EE.UU.
Bielorrusia permitió que se utilizara su territorio como plataforma de lanzamiento para la invasión rusa en febrero de 2022. Luego, accedió a albergar misiles nucleares tácticos rusos en su país, que limita con tres países de la OTAN. Kim Jong Un y Alexander Lukashenko asistieron a una ceremonia de ofrenda floral en la Torre de la Liberación de Pyongyang, Corea del Norte, este miércoles. (Foto: KCNA vía REUTERS)
Lukashenko llegó en avión a la capital, Pyongyang, donde se lo recibió con alfombra roja y fue saludado por la ministra de Asuntos Exteriores de Kim y por decenas de niños pequeños que ondeaban las banderas de ambos países.
Lukashenko se reunió más tarde con Kim. También rindió homenaje en el Palacio del Sol de Kumsusan, un mausoleo donde se exhiben los cuerpos embalsamados de los antiguos gobernantes Kim Il Sung y Kim Jong Il, abuelo y padre del actual líder.
Tanto Corea del Norte como Bielorrusia llevan años sometidas a sanciones internacionales: la primera, principalmente por su programa de armas nucleares, y la segunda, por su historial en materia de derechos humanos y su apoyo a Putin en Ucrania. El líder de Corea del Norte y el presidente de Bielorrusia buscan reforzar su alianza en medio de tensiones con Occidente. (Foto: Presidencia de Bielorrusia/REUTERS)
No obstante, ambos mantuvieron contactos en diferentes momentos con el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump.
El presidente estadounidense se reunió con Kim en tres ocasiones entre 2018 y 2019, durante su primer mandato en la Casa Blanca, pero sus encuentros no dieron resultados sustanciales.
Leé también: Quién es el halcón islámico Mohammed Bager Zolqadr, nuevo jefe del poderoso Consejo de Seguridad de Irán La visita del presidente de Bielorrusia a Corea del Norte se da en un contexto de sanciones y acercamiento estratégico con Rusia. (Foto: Presidencia de Bielorrusia/REUTERS)
Trump dijo el año pasado que “le encantaría tener otra reunión”, a lo que Kim respondió que podría suceder si Estados Unidos abandona su “absurda obsesión” por conseguir que Corea del Norte renuncie a las armas nucleares.
El año pasado, el presidente estadounidense restableció el contacto directo con Lukashenko, a quien el predecesor de Trump, Joe Biden, había tratado como a un paria. En los últimos meses, Estados Unidos empezó a suavizar las sanciones contra Bielorrusia a cambio de la liberación de presos políticos.
El viaje de Lukashenko a Corea del Norte se produce apenas seis días después de que se reuniera con el enviado de Trump, John Coale, y anunciara la liberación de otros 250 detenidos. La parte estadounidense afirmó que Lukashenko podría visitar pronto la Casa Blanca.
(Con información de AFP y Reuters)
corea del norte, Bielorrusia
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Police in the United Kingdom arrested two men Wednesday who were allegedly behind what Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as an «antisemitic arson attack» as detectives are investigating a possible Iran link.
Metropolitan Police said the men, ages 45 and 47, were detained at addresses in northwest and central London on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and that their properties are being searched. On Monday, «Four ambulances from Hatzola, a volunteer-led ambulance service operating in the Golders Green area of north London, were set on fire,» according to police.
«The antisemitic arson attack in Golders Green is horrifying,» Starmer said on X in reaction to the incident.
A video circulating online purports to show Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, an Iran-linked group that has claimed responsibility for recent attacks on Jewish sites in Belgium and the Netherlands, taking credit for the London attack, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
UK COUNTERTERRORISM POLICE PROBE ANTISEMITIC ARSON ATTACK AS IRAN-LINKED GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY
Members of the Jewish community view the scene of an antisemitic arson attack in the Golders Green neighborhood of north London, on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)
«We are aware of an online claim from a group taking responsibility for this attack,» Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams of the Metropolitan Police previously said. «Establishing the authenticity and accuracy of this claim will be a priority… but it is not something we can confirm at this point.»
When asked about the possible Iran link on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police told Fox News Digital that establishing any potential motivation behind the attack is part of the ongoing investigation but that it could not comment further at this time.
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counterterrorism Policing London, which the Metropolitan Police said is leading the investigation, said Wednesday, «We have been working around the clock since this appalling attack took place and this has led to these arrests being made this morning.»
BELGIUM DEPLOYS MILITARY TO PROTECT JEWISH SITES AFTER ANTISEMITIC SYNAGOGUE EXPLOSION
Firefighters are seen tackling a blaze at Highfield Road in the Golders Green neighborhood of London, following an apparent arson attack on four ambulances belonging to the Jewish Community Ambulance Service. (PA/PA Images via Getty Images)
«This appears to be an important breakthrough in the investigation, but we’re also mindful that CCTV footage of the incident suggests there were at least three people involved,» she added. «We fully recognize the local community will still be concerned, and our investigation very much remains active, and we will continue to work to identify and seek to arrest all of those who may have been involved.»
«We know that community concerns remain heightened, and I want to reassure the community that an enhanced, bespoke policing plan and activity, which is particularly focused around vulnerable areas right across London, will continue over coming days and weeks,» Williams said Wednesday.
Charred remains of ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, which were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in northwest London, on Monday, March 23, 2026. (Hannah McKay/TPX Images of the Day/Reuters)
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«This includes specialist officers and capability being deployed alongside local officers to help protect certain locations and will also involve highly visible armed police patrols to serve as a deterrent to anyone seeking to cause our communities harm,» he continued. «I must stress that these are precautionary and not in response to any specific threat, and we continue to work alongside our colleagues in counterterrorism policing to support their investigation.»
Fox News Digital’s Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.
anti semitism, counter terrorism, iran, united kingdom, europe, world
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